You’ve Got to Try the Deliciousness of Girl Next Door Brownies

byJames FurbushonFebruary 14, 2011

My friend Lisa has been kicking her brownie company into high-gear these last few months. And I couldn’t be prouder of her. For as long as I’ve known Lisa (gosh, what like 15 or 20 years now?), she’s always had a knack for baking, and it’s so exciting to see her finally follow that passion into a remarkable small-batch (boutique) baking company.

She was nice enough to send me a sampler box of her Girl Next Door Brownie goodness about a week ago. Unfortunately, for purposes of this review, the brownies really only lasted for a day — yes there was a trail of brownie crumbs left in my stomach’s wake, which means I didn’t think ahead and take pictures of the brownies. Thankfully, Cake Spy has some good ones.

Brownies haven’t really enjoyed a dessert renaissance like cupcakes and pie, but in my hierarchy of desserts, brownies are comfortably number 3, behind ice cream and custard-based confections like flan or creme brulee. So Lisa’s sampler box, which contained 12 brownies — ranging in flavors from the basic chocolate to one smothered with chevre. There was a classic blondie, a spicy brownie with chili, there was even one that had a peppermint patty inside it and another that was filled with bourbon soaked cherries. Holy crap, I put on five pounds just scarfing brownies … and it was worth it!

Boy were her brownies good. So. Very. Good. I still have dreams about them: they were richly chocolate, almost fudgy in their decadence. Each perfectly-sized individual brownie was moist, with layers of flavor. To me the real standouts were the ever-so-salty chevre, which hit my taste buds in a complimentary way to the sweet chocolate; the spicy brownie had exceptional depth, with the chili kick reaching full impact after the brownie had already slid down my gullet; and the blondie, with it’s brown sugar and buttery richness, rounded out by large chunks of white chocolate chips.

You can order a box of a dozen brownies, in either one flavor for $27 or three flavors for $30 and you will totally satisfy that urge. Give them as a gift, to yourself or someone you love, and you’ll be smiling one of those chocolatey toothy grins of shear pleasure.